Chefs Dominique Crenn and Michael Elégbèdé, a member of the Hospitality Pioneers, sponsored by S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, share their thoughts on culinary culture, identity and food that comes from the soul at the 50 Next Class of 2022 event in Bilbao
“Cooking brings people together,” says Dominique Crenn, chef-owner of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, as she takes the microphone in Bilbao. “Food is a connector, food is language, food is culture – so, as chefs, we have a lot of responsibility.”
It’s a role that Crenn has embraced throughout her career. As a campaigner for women’s rights and the LGBTQ+ communities across the restaurant industry, the winner of the Icon Award in 2021 has spent a lifetime promoting unity and understanding. Her interviewee on the 50 Next stage, Nigerian chef Michael Elégbèdé, one of this year’s Hospitality Pioneers, is also a hero of marginalised food cultures.
As a third-generation chef, whose mother attended Le Cordon Bleu school and whose grandmother learnt the art of pastry during the colonisation of Nigeria, Elégbèdé grew up surrounded by food. After emigrating to the United States at age 13, he seemed destined to work in restaurants and began his cooking career in a family-run venue in Chicago.
Chefs Michael Elégbèdé and Dominique Crenn co-hosted the interactive discussion at the 50 Next Class of 2022 event in Bilbao
But there was something missing. “Working in predominantly white kitchens with Eurocentric foods, I constantly asked myself what role I had to play,” says Elégbèdé. “I wanted my Nigerian culture and my cuisine to be represented – but realised that the change that I wanted to see globally had to begin at home.”
Chef Crenn has always had a similar outlook on cultural representation and at her eponymous restaurant, she weaves her French heritage into all her creations. “You have to be yourself – but to do that, we need to reconnect to the past and the knowledge from our ancestors,” she says.
Throughout his early career in the United States, Elégbèdé was shocked by opinions that there is ‘no cuisine in Africa’. So, at the age of 26, he bought a one-way ticket and returned to his home nation for the first time in over a decade, determined to change misconceptions about African culinary culture.
Michael Elégbèdé opened his restaurant, Ìtàn, in the Ikoyi neighbourhood of Lagos, Nigeria
He travelled across the vast country, which is home to more than 200 million people and 250 ethnic groups, to enrich his understanding about the intricacies of Nigerian cuisine. With a mother of Fulani descent and a father from Yoruba, he was keen to expand his knowledge of other West African groups.
“We’ve been so myopic about what Nigerian cuisine entails,” says Elégbèdé, “so my travels really helped me to present different perspectives.” This appreciation of culture resonates deeply with chef Crenn’s philosophy: “A restaurant is not only about the food, but is somewhere that you can learn. Knowledge is meant to be shared with others,” she adds.
From the former Biafra region in the south, Elégbèdé practiced the technique of cooking fish with acid, rather than fire, which is now globally recognised as ceviche, and documented other culinary practices adopted by remote communities. But having spent ten years working in fine dining restaurants across America, including Eleven Madison Park and The French Laundry, Elégbèdé’s trip was not without its culture shocks.
Recounting an anecdote during which he ordered beef soup at a local canteen, Elégbèdé recalls he was surprised to find all parts of the animal in his bowl. “But of course,” he laughed, “that was exactly what I ordered.”
The 32-year-old chef has brought his learnings to his own restaurant in Lagos, named Ìtàn. Together with his team, he continues to research local food traditions and native ingredients to inspire his dishes. “My aspiration was to show the rest of the world how great our cuisine is. The menu is in Yoruba, which is my dialect, and we run each one for about eight weeks, then change focus to a different region,” says Elégbèdé.
Elégbèdé showcases Nigerian culinary culture using traditional techniques and native ingredients
Besides the enormous fount of knowledge that he was beginning to tap, Elégbèdé was struck by the profound connection between Nigerian culinary practices and the natural environment on which they depend. Through his work at Ìtàn, Elégbèdé is keen not only to highlight Nigerian ingredients, but their relationship with food systems. Once, during his travels, he cooked soup with a female chef and recalls how she used every ugu [pumpkin leaf] from the plant she grew in her own garden; none of it was wasted. “She was very intentional about how she uses every single aspect of the vegetable,” he says.
Disconnect from the soil and the origin of food is one of the biggest problems that we are currently facing. “In the West, we eat a lot of potatoes, but how often do you go to a store and see potato leaves? They’re edible. So why aren’t they used?”
Elégbèdé and the 50 Next Class of 2022 are determined to address these issues, and together, are changing global attitudes towards food heritage and production. The Hospitality Pioneers, sponsored by S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, are an inspiration even for veterans of the industry. Dominique Crenn’s final words on stage were ones of admiration: “I love that your generation is thinking that we have to look in the past, to find the answer for today, so we can move forward tomorrow.”
Re-live the conversation between Dominique Crenn and Michael Elégbèdé:
The 50 Next Class of 2022 was announced at a live awards ceremony in Bilbao, Spain, on Friday 24th June 2022 – meet this group of young, talented individuals on the 50 Next website. To stay up to date with all the news and announcements, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
